Hi Ren: In praise of a musician who conquered evil

Talents are born every now and then – well, maybe a little less frequently. But generational talents are born very rarely. To me, Michael Jackson was the last such talent.

Until I stumbled on Ren. Ren Gill. And Ren's genre-bending 'Hi Ren' alone can define him as one.

'Hi Ren' is not a typical song that you'd throw into your playlist and forget about it very soon. It's a piece of art you absolutely have to watch. 

It's performance art – blurring the line between music and theatre. And one of the very few greatest ones – definitely the greatest of this time.

Ren is a whole package – lyrics, tune, guitar, melody, thoughts, depth and, after all, the performance. It was MJ who popularised music videos in the 80s. 

Ren is a modern bard whose lyrics are magnificent and so poignant. There are some lines you'll never forget. They are haunting. But they are soothing at the same time.

Those who remember "Thriller", which was released in 1983, know that the blockbuster music video was a lot more than a full-length film. Well, Ren's performance in "Hi Ren" is one of the very few pinnacles of music in the video format in its entire history.

You'll be struck with surprise (a little scare, too, perhaps) in the very first frame of 'Hi Ren'. A pig-masked slaughterhouse butcher, blood splattered all over his apron, wheels down Ren into the screen – a shabby room with two lamps and cracked walls with paint peeling off in some places, dirty floor, a small pile of rubbish in one corner. 

What you notice is an apparently sick boy in a hospital gown, sitting in a wheelchair, a guitar on his lap. The scene has such a freaking effect but yet is so poignant in itself. The pig-mask disappears soon and never returns. Because it's not about him – he's just a prop, however shocking.

Then, after the brief title screen, the music starts and the song and the performance of a century.

Ren's mastery of guitar playing is evident in the first riffs out of the nylon-string classical instrument. If you don't like the riff…well, scratch that— you can't really fool yourself into not liking it.

When Ren starts using his vocals, that's another surprise. That a male singer's vocal ranges can reach those places – you are just not prepared for that. 

And the serenity of his falsetto — calling it "Brilliant!" would probably be an understatement. It seems Ren could have just continued that "yedoling" for a few minutes and finished the "song" – and everyone would have perhaps been happy, thinking that was harmonic and nice and enchanting. But then the actual song – with its most devastating, most powerful lyrics – begins.

It's time I should tell you to go and watch the song on YouTube (because Ren doesn't have a label, YouTube is where Ren releases all his songs). And after watching it, you won't have to read any further.

'Hi Ren' is an honest, passionate performance of one's inner struggle – the inevitable battle between self-doubt and confidence, depression and courage that every artiste, every human being has within themselves: their own demon "always in periphery" – the one that one cannot "amputate".

To me, 'Hi Ren' is, really, a three-act play…with an Epilogue. Act I is composed of some intense conversation between Ren's two selves – every person's own two voices: the self-doubting one and the aspiring one, the back and forth between them with their own unique voices and ways of speaking.

Ren's expressions and voice change for both aggression and vulnerability, mockery and reasoning, and takeover and defiance; the change of the guitar tunes, the flickering of the lamps, the overall theatrics – everything is so blended into the performance, you'll hardly look away, and you won't realise when the nine-minute song ended.

The taunting of Ren's inner voice, the ridicules it makes of Ren's artistic self, the belittling lectures and the artiste's vulnerability facing those expose the intense battleground inside Ren's mind. It makes the viewer-listener equally vulnerable to the "pendulum eternally swaying from the dark to the light".

In Act II, when the evil self takes over, it's total chaos and darkness – lyrically and musically. Ren's mastery of lyrics, the vast swathe of Biblical and literary imagery in those words, the gradual climax to the inner Ren's "evil" self that lives "in every decision that catalysed chaos, that causes division", gives you such horror. The accompanying guitar-playing just goes wild.

Then Ren takes control in Act III, where he rises up in defiance – with all the strength of hope in the face of despair. His hope is as inevitable as "the voice that you hear when you loosen the noose on the rope". As Ren stands up, everything turns into pure bliss.

The final yodelling is the ultimate victorious celebration of one's musical and artistic self. The lights of "evil" Ren still flicker, but the artiste Ren's acceptance of his evil twin makes him even stronger now.

But don't go away when you see Ren turn around to unplug the guitar at the end of the song – it's not finished yet. Because the Epilogue comes with a powerful message. Watch that.

Ren is a modern bard whose lyrics are magnificent and so poignant. There are some lines you'll never forget. They are haunting. But they are soothing at the same time.

Interestingly, the whole performance was recorded live – you can see the tiny mic attached to the neck of Ren's gown. There are four cameras that change the perspectives, but it was just one take you're watching. They took a few takes in total and chose the best for release.

'Hi Ren' isn't a new song. It premiered on YouTube on 16 December 2022. And people are still discovering it, people are still being amazed because the song is therapeutic. It has over 60 million views on YouTube.

Now, go, watch and listen to "'Hi Ren'; become a "RENegade" – that's what Ren's fans and followers go by. For Ren will make you proud of yourself.